Month: January 2016
Make Your Own Union Hardtack
January 27, 2016
Recipe available in “Great Civil War Projects You Can Build Yourself” by Maxine Anderson (Available at Gettysburg Tours)
- 2 cups of flour bowl
- ½ to ¾ cup water rolling pin
- salt (5-6 pinches) cookie sheet
What to do:
- Mix all ingredients together. Make sure you add enough flour so that the dough is no longer sticky, but be careful not to make it too dry. Knead the dough a few times. During the war, hardtack was about half an inch thick, so when you’re rolling the dough, aim for this thickness. It is easiest to roll the dough directly on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes.
- Remove the dough from the oven, cut the large square into smaller three-by-three-inch square. Poke 16 evenly spaced holes in each square. Flip, return to the oven, and bake for another 30 minutes. Turn the oven off, and allow the hardtack to cool in the oven with the door closed. Allow to completely cool, and then enjoy!
Variations: Soldiers often soaked their hardtack in leftover water from boiling their meat. This softened the hardtack, and also gave it some flavor. They would then fry the softened hardtack in pork grease. The end result tasted something like a crouton and was called “skillygallee.”
Give it a try and let us know on Facebook how you liked it.
John Buford Memorial
January 5, 2016
The three thousand cavalry troopers led by John Buford on the first day of Gettysburg were tasked with slowing down the Confederate advance long enough for Union reinforcements to arrive on the field. The combination of skill and luck used by General Buford successfully blunted the advance of Heth’s division on McPherson’s Ridge and contributed greatly to eventual Union victory at Gettysburg.
Born in Kentucky, General Buford’s promising military career was cut short when he came down with typhoid fever in the autumn of 1863. This illness resulted in his passing in December of the same year.
The Buford Memorial Association was formed in 1888 with the mission of erecting a suitable memorial on the field.
Located on the Chambersburg Pike, the John Buford Memorial was dedicated on July 1, 1895.
Surrounding the base are four Ordnance Rifles, the kind which were used in a Horse Artillery Battery. Among these guns is to be found number 233 and according to John Calef who commanded such a battery under Buford’s command, this was the gun that fired the very first Union artillery shot of the battle.